Dick Advocaat is playing down talk of his tenure at Sunderland extending beyond the end of the current season.

Crystal Palace are the visitors to the Stadium of Light today as the Black Cats continue their quest to retain Premier League status, their head coach refusing to be distracted from that task by discussing his own long-term future.

“My situation is not important. The most important thing is the team improving,” said the Dutchman, whose side are three points and the same number of places above the drop zone following Sunday’s derby win over Newcastle.

“I’m a demanding manager and the players can always do more, but we will wait and see with my situation.”

The well-travelled Advocaat is no stranger to silverware, saying the plaudits around their derby triumph are nothing new.

“I’m not being arrogant but that is a normal situation for me,” he said, when asked if support for him was growing.

“At the clubs I have worked at and the prizes I have won, it is normal for the fans to think that way. It is good to be back in club management. I enjoy working with people.”

On his first Premier League posting, he added: “I could have come to England after Rangers, but the national team of Holland came. After that I went from club to club and country to country, and I never had the chance.

“My friend Frank Arnesen brought me here. I also had a chance to come here with Fulham, but it did not interest me.”

Faced with the task of channelling theirderby-day positivity into a more lasting improvement, Advocaat insists the squad are remaining grounded.

“They realise this is only the start,” he said, with Jack Rodwell poised to return for the suspended Seb Larsson.

“That is the feeling we must have, because we need points.

“I watched the game back and it has given the players a lot of confidence, the way they performed.

“If they can continue to do that, it is good. And in training, I can see it is improving too. Hopefully we can see that against a very difficult team.

“I told them we have to focus on the next five games, so let’s do it.

“We will still have our last two games away (Arsenal and Chelsea) but ideally we have to do it in the next five games.

“The most important game is now Palace. Hopefully, the players realise that.

“Our fans were unbelievable on Sunday. I enjoyed it and I expected that atmosphere. Hopefully that will be the same this time round.”

Joking that he will continue to wear his grey scarf because “it is more successful than my brown one”, he went on to address the more serious matter of suppressing a Palace side whose own season has been reborn since the arrival of ex-Newcastle United boss Alan Pardew.

“They are hard-working and very opportunistic,” he said of the Eagles, who took Manchester City’s scalp on Monday.

“They get a lot of players behind the ball and counter-attack. They have beaten many clubs away and we have to be clever.”

On Pardew, he added: “He is an excellent coach and they were having a hard time until he arrived.

“I have always kept an eye on him because we met once in Spain when he was Charlton manager, and they had a training camp in Marbella. He is a nice man. I like him, and I have followed him since then.”